HighTide and Nottingham Playhouse Theatre Company present 

LIT by Sophie Ellerby

"When I think about you my chest feels like it's about to explode and this energy pulses through me, heat, rising all the way up through my veins from my heart."

The problem with love is that it’s different for everyone. For Bex, love is a flirt in detention and the promise of a date at a Chinese buffet. She doesn’t even like Chinese. How long can she keep searching for love before she ends up burnt?
LIT explores the turbulent teenage years of a girl looking for love in all the wrong places. Sophie Ellerby’s writing revives a proud British tradition of placing complex working class people at the heart of her work. Sophie is an actor and a writer, and the spark of LIT came from her experience studying young women and mothers in the prison system. Originally developed through HighTide’s First Commissions programme, we are proud to be co-producing the full production after presenting it as a reading in Festival 2017.
Director Stef O'Driscoll, director of Paines Plough Roundabout 2018 and 2019 seasons, is a leading innovator in British theatre; 'Creates an alternative experience for people who don’t think theatre is for them' The Stage.  
Running time: 1h 30m Age recommendation: 14+ This production contains strong language and references to sexual violence.

If you, or someone you know, are affected by anything in the play, please contact the One In Four helpline on 0208 697 2112 (Mon-Fri 6 -9pm, Sat 1-5pm) or visit http://thesurvivorstrust.org.

 
  

"Creates an alternative experience for people who don't think theatre is for them." 

The Stage

It has an infectious energy

The Stage

Cast & Creatives

  • Sophie Ellerby Writer
    Sophie studied drama at the University of Manchester. She was awarded a place on HighTide’s First Commission scheme in 2016 and wrote her debut play LIT, which will be produced by HighTide and Nottingham Playhouse in 2019. Other work includes THREE, performed at the Arcola Theatre in 2017 and both Function and crabs for the National Youth Theatre. She is currently under commission to the National Youth Theatre and Fifth Word Theatre and is Writer in Residence at Pentabus Theatre for 2018/19. Sophie is dedicated to working on projects that challenge social norms and ignite community imagination. Her plays aim to tackle provocative societal questions in an accessible and human way.
  • Stef O'Driscoll Director
    Stef is the Artistic Director of nabokov and previously the Associate Director at Paines Plough and at the Lyric Hammersmith. Upcoming directing includes: LIT by Sophie Ellerby (Nottingham Playhouse and HighTide September 2019) and A HISTORY OF WATER IN THE MIDDLE EAST by Sabrina Mahfouz (Royal Court October 2019). For Paines Plough: Daughterhood by Charley Miles; On The Other Hand, We’re Happy by Daf James; Dexter and Winter’s Detective Agency by Nathan Bryon; Sticks and Stones by Vinay Patel; Island Town by Simon Longman; With A Little Bit Of Luck by Sabrina Mahfouz; Hopelessly Devoted by Kate Tempest; Blister by Laura Lomas; and as Assistant Director: Wasted by Kate Tempest. For nabokov: Last Night by Benin City (Roundhouse/Latitude); Box Clever by Monsay Whitney (Marlowe Theatre/Roundabout/Bunker); Storytelling Army (Brighton Festival) and Slug by Sabrina Mahfouz (Latitude). For the Lyric, as Co Director: A Midsummer Night’s Dream; as Associate Director: Mogadishu (Manchester Royal Exchange); as Assistant Director: Blasted – winner Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre 2011. Other Director credits: Yard Gal by Rebecca Prichard – winner Fringe Report Awards for Best Fringe Production 2009 (Oval House); A Tale From The Bedsit by Paul Cree (Roundhouse/Bestival); Finding Home by Cecilia Knapp (Roundhouse); A Guide To Second Date Sex and When Women Wee (Underbelly/Soho) and as Assistant Director: Henry IV (Donmar/St Anne’s Warehouse).